A Rough Night
by r33d824
Summary: It was another peaceful night in the Skellington manor. Sally claims she's feeling tired and has gone to bed early. When Jack comes to check on her, he finds that she is sleepwalking. What is one to do in this situation?


**A/N: Alrighty, so this will be my first ever fanfiction. This fanfic will be based off of a short time period in my life where I started sleepwalking. We're talking years ago so my memory might be a bit off. Apparently what I did, according to my mother, was wander into the living room hours after my bedtime while she and my father were watching tv. I would walk in and just stare blankly ahead. Of the few times this happened I'd occasionally mutter something (not sure if it was ever audible) but I'd never respond to anything they were saying to me. Of course it would always end with one of them sending me back to bed and me not knowing what the heck happened.**

 **So now I'm gonna be writing a fanfic loosely based of this short time period in my life. Why am I using Nightmare Before Christmas characters? I dunno... It's October and Halloween is just around the corner so… yeah.**

 **I don't think I need to state the obvious but I will anyways: I don't own any of the characters in this fanfic. All characters belong to Tim Burton and Disney. Anyways, onwards with the story.**

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"Goodnight Sally. I'll be up there to join you in a little bit."

It was another peaceful night in the Skellington manor. Jack was now left alone in the living room for his love Sally claimed she was feeling tired and has gone up to bed early. The only thing keeping him company was his already sound asleep dog Zero who was on the couch. Jack decided to pop open one of his many books and began to read for he wasn't quite tired just yet.

About an hour later, Jack looked at the clock and saw that it read 12:30. "Oh would you look at the time! I best be off to bed. C'mon Zero!" he said to his ghost dog who slowly arose from both his slumber and his spot on the couch. While closing up his book and placing it back on the shelf, he heard what sounded like a creaking door coming from the second floor followed by light footsteps.

Being almost positive that it was his Sally who was wondering about, he didn't think anything of it. Perhaps she just needed to use the bathroom. Since Jack didn't hear anything afterwards, he safely assumed that she was either doing her thing or had gone back to bed.

Jack turned off the lights and both him and his ghost dog Zero began to make their way up the stairs and into the dark hallway. They walked (or in Zero's case floated) to the bedroom. Jack opened the door and peeked inside, the only light coming from the large moon outside the window. He look down at the bed expecting to see Sally sleeping, but was confused when he saw only empty sheets. Jack looked around the bedroom and saw nothing. He then heard Zero give out a light "arf" from behind him outside the bedroom.

Jack stuck his head outside the bedroom and into the still dark hallway. As Zero barked once more, Jack stumbled around looking for a light switch. Feeling the walls, he eventually found one. Jack flipped the switch and instantly was blinded by the strong light that lit the hallway. Jack rubbed his face trying to get his eyes (or eye sockets?) to adjust to the light. He blinked a couple times and look in front of him just to see an empty hallway. He looks towards the bathroom door but didn't see any sort of light coming from underneath it, meaning Sally probably wasn't in there. Zero gave out another "arf" from behind him. Jack turned around and jumped over what he saw.

There lie inches ahead was his love Sally, standing in her nightgown. Her eyes were wide open, mouth ever so slightly ajar, face more or less expressionless. It wasn't her physical appearance that caused Jack to jump, but rather the fact that it seems like she just poofed out of nowhere. How long she was standing there for was beyond Jack's knowledge.

"Oh, Sally. You gave me quite the fright! Nothing ever scares the Pumpkin King, so props to you. But why are you still up? I thought you went to bed an hour ago."

Sally didn't say anything. In fact, she didn't even react. She just stood there, eyes still wide open and mouth still slightly ajar. Zero sniffed her leg and started to whine. Again, no reaction from Sally. She just blinked once or twice. Seems like the lights are on, but nobody's home as the saying goes

"Sally? Yoo-hoo!" Jack waved his hand in front of her, trying to get some sort of reaction but to no avail. Sally blinked once more then proceeded to walked forward towards the direction of both Jack and Zero. Zero nearly got stepped on, but flew out of the way just in time. He barked at Jack, who on the other hand didn't quite get the memo that his ghost companion was trying to tell him. Sally ended up walking right into him, knocking him off his feet. Who knew such a ragdoll that weighed next to nothing could have so much force? Jack let out a small "oof". She continued to walk straight until making a sudden turn into a wall.

"Just what in the heck is going on here?" Jack thought to himself still on the ground. He looked over at Sally who was leaning against the wall, face flat against it. Jack came to the conclusion that this could be only be one of two things.

Either A: _She's sleepwalking._

Or B: _She's drunk._

Jack opted for choice A. He got up onto his feet. "Zero. Pay attention to Sally. Make sure she doesn't hurt herself." Zero nodded. Jack took one more look at Sally who was still using the wall as support. He hustled down the stairs and into his dark library. He flipped the light switch and was greeted with a massive amount of now visible books. "There's got to be a logical way to explain this sleepwalking thing." Jack went into the "S" section of his neatly sorted library and began looking. "Sleep apnea, sleep paralysis… AH HA! Sleepwalking!" Jack exclaimed as he found what he was looking for.

He began to read. "Sleepwalking, formally known as somnambulism, is a behavior disorder that originates during deep sleep and results in walking or performing other complex behaviors while asleep. It is more likely to occur if a person is sleep deprived."

That probably answers the reason why Sally went to bed early.

He continued to read. "Someone who is sleepwalking may: Get out of bed and walk around, have a glazed, glassy-eyed expression, not respond or communicate with others, be difficult to wake up during an episode…"

Well, this all makes perfect sense. Sally's current state pretty much matched what the book was telling him. Jack decided to skim through it a little. The real question Jack needed answered is how to wake someone in this current state.

"Sleep experts warn that forcefully bringing a person out of this state can cause them to become startled, confused or agitated. Not immediately recognizing you as someone they know, they may push you, strike you, or otherwise lash out at you. Instead of trying to wake a sleepwalker, it's recommended to gently lead them by the arm to guide them back to bed."

With that in mind, Jack closed the book and placed it back onto the shelf. He turned the lights off and walked back up the stairs, trying to be quiet in doing do. The last thing he'd want to do is disturbed is precious Sally. While walking up, he heard a loud _**THUMP**_ followed by a soft snoring sound coming from the hallway where he left his ghost dog and Sally. When he reached the top of the steps, he was greeted with a concerned Zero hovering over Sally who has now since collapsed on the floor. At this point Jack wasn't sure if she was sleepwalking anymore. He wandered over to where she was lying. Her eyelids were now shut and that soft snoring sound he heard from before was coming from her mouth.

Oh how cute she looked sleeping like that that. But how comfortable can the hardwood floors really be? Jack thought not so much. Being as gentle as a skeleton can be, he picked up his loving Sally and slowly brought her back to their room with Zero close behind. He placed her lightly into their bed. Jack quickly changed into his pajamas as Zero made his way into his doggy bed. He tucked Sally in, making sure she was as comfortable as she could possibly be. Jack got into bed with her. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before rolling over and attempting to fall asleep himself. A small smile appeared on Sally's face as the two of them drifted into deep sleep for the night.

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 ** **Again, this was my first ever fanfic. Not sure if I will make another chapter yet or if I really need to.****

 **I want you guys to tell me what you think. Am I a good writer? Do I absolutely suck? Anything I can improve on? I want any opinions I can get, positive or negative. Don't hold anything back!**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading and have a splendid day! - r33d824**


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